LISTEN: Indian MMA Origin Stories Episode 05: One Punch MMA ft. Balkrishna Shetty

In the fifth episode of Indian MMA Origin stories, we talk to Balkrishna Shetty who is the head coach of ONE Punch MMA.

For the uninitiated, Indian MMA Origin Stories is an Interview series from LockerRoom India where we try to explore the origin stories of Indian MMA Fight Teams, Gyms, Promotions, and whatnot.

In the episode, Balkrishna opens up about how and why One Punch MMA was started, how his combat sports journey started, the MMA League that is being planned, Meeting Daniel Isaac and going to Nashik in 2001, How he got into Coaching and Muay-Thai, His ONE championship journey, his students making history, WMC India, his advice for upcoming fights and more.

Time Code for easy viewing:

00:59 – Dealing with the Pandemic
02:23 – How and Why One Punch MMA started
05:36 – The Major challenges that One Punch faced
07:36 – The MMA League that is being planned
10:13 – How a Karate Dress got him into Combat Sports
13:00 – Meeting Daniel Isaac and going to Nashik in 2001
16:20 – How he discovered Muay-Thai
18:40 – How the ONE Championship offer came to him
21:10 – Giving up Combat sports and Working in Call Centre
23:27 – How Bollywood got him into Coaching
27:19 – Humiliation in Belarus and Proving a Point
28:57 – How WMC India started
31:15 – Creating divisions for WMC India
33:41 – His take on the Future of MMA in India
35:33 – His advice to upcoming Fighters

You can listen to the episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Anchor.FM, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Breaker, and Radio Public. Below is a link to the audible below.